Tag Archives: Howard Stern

Tune in to some great content from today on BlogTalkRadio.*Please note that all show times are listed in EST time.
Today’s Programming Highlights:

At 8 AMSyndicated News goes one-on-one with Bo Dietl, the former NYPD detective whose 1998 memoir, One Tough Cop, hit the silver screen with Stephen Baldwin in the lead. Now the head of his own investigation agency, Bo will fill us in on the latest in the shamus profession.

At 1 PMThe Neverhood’s Ethan Tudor W gets up close and personal with Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie, and whose new memoir is titled, Confessions Of A Prairie Bitch.

At 7 PM The Spirited Actor’s Tracey Moore kicks it with Hollywood casting director Winsome Sinclair, who has worked with such heavyweights as Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone populating flicks like Amistad, Malcolm X, Shaft and Precious.

At 9 PMArtists on Demand welcomes Shaun Toub, who’s fast making is name as the must-cast character actor, having done memorable turn in Lost and The Sopranos. Shaun will chat about his role opposite Dev Patel in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender.

Tune in to some great content from today on BlogTalkRadio.*Please note that all show times are listed in EST time.
Today’s Programming Highlights:

On demand Host Timothy Hodge chills with Ayelet Waldman, who’ll chat about her latest book, the national bestseller Bad Mother, and about the forthcoming film version her 2006 novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, starring Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow.On demand Host John Shannon goes one-on-one with Matt Entenza, who’s gunning to the governorship of Minnesota. In 2007, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate founded Minnesota 2020, a non-partisan think tank seeking to improve the quality of life in the Gopher State. Continue reading →

"I feel so lucky that he's such a sweetheart," Mary (above) tells us of Howard.

It’s good to know that Howard Stern – who married longtime lady friend Beth Ostrosky in October – still loves his movie wife.

Interviewed on Mr. Media, Mary McCormack says the King of All Media to this day thinks of her as his queen.

Mary, 40, of course played Howard’s first wife, Alison, in his 1997 biopic, Private Parts.

When host Bob Andelman asks the actress, “You still in contact with Howard Stern?” she replies:

“I am. I was at his wedding this year.”

Later on, the married mother of two says she never thought that being cast as the mother of Howard’s kids would lead to a lifelong commitment to the shock jock.

“He’s been a great friend to me over the years. And I hope he always will be. I mean, who knew? You don’t expect it from Howard Stern,” says Mary, who plays U.S. Marshal Mary Shannon on In Plain Sight.

As Alison, with Howard, in "Private Parts."

“He’s everything you don’t expect… He’s so lovely to me and always has been – and he says my boobs are great.

Howard Stern did an about-face yesterday in his feud with former underling “Stuttering John” Melendez—or did he?

While interviewing him Monday on Mr. Media, host Bob Andelman asked John—who left Howard’s then-terrestrial radio show in 2003 to become Jay Leno‘s announcer on The Tonight Show—”Is Jay taking you with him to 10 p.m.?”

"I really enjoy working with Jay. He's been great to me thus far," John (l) tells us of his current boss (r).

(Bob—whose interview is cited in the New York Post‘s Page Six column today—was of course referring to Jay’s move to an earlier time slot on NBC this fall, with a show tentatively titled The Jay Leno Show, after handing off The Tonight Show to Conan O’Brien in June.)

“I don’t know yet. I haven’t heard yet,” John replied. “I’m assuming I’m going in some capacity—although assump- tions aren’t always good. But I really do hope that I am.”

The next morning, on Howard’s Sirius Satellite show, the King of All Media’s newswoman, Lisa G, reported:

“I have an update on ‘Stuttering’ John Melendez – appearing on [Bob Andelman’s] Internet radio show yesterday claiming that he has not heard yet if he will be following Jay Leno to his new 10 p.m. show. John says he assumes he’s going in some capacity, but he’s doing standup and building up his website just in case.”

Before we tell you Howard’s response to that update, we should note that, in February 2008, John appeared on Adam Carolla‘s since-axed syndicated radio show and ripped into his former boss, claiming Howard never paid him fairly and didn’t fight to keep him when he quit Howard’s show.

“He resented me doing any outside work,” John told Adam.

On his own show a few days later, Howard called John a “no-talent ingrate,” adding:

“I didn’t have a beef with him before, but I do now. He’s delusional… He can go #$%! himself.”

"I can't imagine the magic of that show without John," Howard (above) says of a Melendez-less Jay Leno program.

Now for the kicker.

Yesterday on Howard’s show, in response to Lisa’s update, he said:

“I’m going to make an offer to John right now: If Jay doesn’t hire him back, he can stay in L.A. and ask questions, and we’ll hire him to go to some of those premieres and ask questions again.”

But then Howard added, “[John] can do that. It’s a dollar for every question.”

Will Jay bring John to his new prime-time show? Will John— jonesing for a broadcasting gig after being dumped—return to Howard? Stay tuned.

In the meantime, be sure to check out John’s full Mr. Media interview, in which John also:

—Tells the story of his awkward run-in with Billy Crystal backstage at The Tonight Show years after infuriating the comedian at a movie premiere while covering the event for Howard’s show.

—Explains why, much to his dismay, his latest Internet video in which he sings to his baby son is rife with profanity.

And when we say “star-studded,” we don’t just mean “studded with stars.”

We also mean “celebrity-filled” and “filled with celebrities,” “A-lister-packed” and “packed with A-listers,” “bold-faced-name-brimming” and “brimming with bold-faced names,” “world-renowned-visage-loaded” and “loaded with…” – well, you get the point.

“I hope that muther#&$@!* tastes good,” David says of his three-figure holiday fowl.

And even if you don’t, you’re still required to tune into The Mix this evening, as it answers such all-important questions as:

—What Paris Hilton did recently to pre- vent the paparazzi from peering into her abode.

For a decade after his 1995 double-murder acquittal, O.J. Simpson held a grudge against Barbara Walters.

And against Karie Couric.

His gripe? The journalists’ reports about him surrounding the Trial of the Century, which he claims were “bogus.” Simpson even went so far as to get their bosses involved in trying to correct the stories.

He was particularly peeved at Walters for allegedly begging him to appear on The View years later, only to cancel the appearance without telling him.

“That pissed me off,” he said.

"The 'Today' show? Barbara Walters? You expect more from these people," groused Simpson.

The fallen gridiron great made the comments in 2005 during an interview in New York City videotaped by his longtime promoter, Norman Pardo, host of BlogTalkRadio’s Courts Gone Wild.

Aired for the first time ever last night, the interview also finds Simpson – who’s currently on trial in Las Vegas on kidnapping and armed-robbery charges – bashing Geraldo Rivera’s “sleaze television” tactics, while saying that Howard Stern didn’t bother him because “One, I never listened to him. Two… I was his boss for a while, when this happened.”

Perhaps most stinging among Simpson’s claims is that Don Ohlmeyer, who was West Coast president of NBC at the time of the acquittal, called the head of NBC News to say a story being reported on the Today show about Simpson not telling his former in-laws where he’d taken his children – and traumatizing the kids in the process – was not true.

How did Ohlmeyer know?

Simpson says he and his kids were just a few feet away from the NBC honcho at the time – having all slept over at his house, where they’d had a warm reunion during Simpson’s first night as a free man after being jailed for 17 months.

Airing weeknights from 9 to 10 p.m. ET, Courts Gone Wild debuted September 8 and will run throughout Simpson’s Las Vegas trial.

OJ SIMPSON: The media to me has let America down – has let me down, obviously. It’s no wonder that they pass lawyers and used-car salesmen as the least-respected profession. There’s a reason for that, that that has happened.

I feel it has more to do with greed. As you know, during my trial, most news organizations reported record years. They made money.

Then they have to send someone to cruise over to a war zone – to L.A. They came out. Most of them are so lazy, they waited for [Associated Press correspondent] Linda Deutsch or somebody to come out and give them something, then they ran.

And they ran with every rumor. I mean, how many rumors? I would say my trial, and stuff around my trial, if somebody ever went through the media, and find out, this one, this one, this one from the trial. And every time they found out they weren’t true – when 90 percent of them weren’t true – you never heard anything else about it, because there was a new rumor.

So I thought [the media] let me down. I thought they let the American public down – in my case. I think in general they do. I read stories about what’s happening in Afghanistan. I have to look at it with a lot of skepticism. And I’ve had some issues in my life recently, that have happened, and I wonder. I said, If they can write this about me, that I know is not true, how do I know that they’re saying about this other guy is true?

(On major media figures who reported on Simpson during his murder trial.)

OJ SIMPSON: [Investigative journalist] Dominick Dunne says the most ridiculous things. He told me I looked when I walked out like I was guilty. Jesus. Thank you, Domenic. Let’s get rid of the juries. Let’s just have you look at people and see if they’re guilty.

Strangely enough, Howard Stern didn’t bother me at all. One, I never listened to him. Two, I was on the board of directors [of Stern’s former radio syndicate, Infinity Broadcasting]. So in a sense, I was his boss for a while, when this happened. And I didn’t listen to him then. But Howard is Howard. That’s his schtick. He makes money. Who cares? Not that I ever listened to him.

It got like – when people make guises of something they’re not. I mean, to me, Geraldo [Rivera] should be at The Globe or The Star. He really should be. I mean, this is a perfect example of this guy. Trying to act like he’s in danger [while Rivera was covering the U.S. War in Afghanistan for Fox News Channel and claimed to be at a friendly-fire scene, though it was later revealed that he was 300 miles away] and he’s somewhere and he said The Lord’s Prayer. He’s 200 miles away from there.

But guess what? Oh, it was a mistake. Oh, it’s alright for him to make a mistake. But nobody else – nobody could be wrong about. But guys like him, who put on airs to be something that they’re not. This guy created sleaze television. Remember he had his points he put out to the media about honesty in reporting? That in my day – you know, if you had a story about hookers, this guy had a story about midget hookers the next day. That bothers me. He doesn’t bother me particularly. But that type of person bothers me.

(On feeling stung by high-profile members of the media before, during and after his murder trial.)

OJ SIMPSON: Barbara Walters, when I was in jail the first week, and I was very – all these things were being said that were just wrong. And I’m hearing [about] people they make my friends – that I barely knew! – and all of a sudden they were close friends of [my ex-wife, Nicole [Brown].

But Barbara was on – what is her show? 20/20? – gave a report at the end of the show. She tells Hugh Downs O.J.’s contract with NBC was up, his contract with Hertz was up, he was paying about $55,000 in child support and alimony. And Hugh Downs looked at her and says, “You know, a lot of people think that kind of pressure would lead a man to maybe do something drastic.” And so that was the gist of what it was.

I was livid! My lawyers were livid. Hertz had resigned me to an extension. NBC had resigned me to an extension. And I didn’t pay any alimony.

So here’s an investigate show, with Barbara Walters. They could make one phone call. They could call NBC and found out that that wasn’t true. They could call Hertz and found out that that wasn’t true. They could call anyone.

But they went on and gave a total, New York Post-type story. Barbara Walters! But did she ever go on TV when she found out it wasn’t true? ‘Cause she found out – ‘cause I tracked [former ABC News Chairman] Roone Arledge down from jail. He was at the Deepdale Country Club [in Manhasset, N.Y.], playing golf.

And I said, “Tell her this: I’d like to speak to her.” And I spoke to her about it. She never corrected herself. I mean, we had a long talk about it. But she never made a public apology about it. And then, years later – the only reason I brought it up; I wouldn’t bring it up, ‘cause I accepted her apology – about a year ago, I guess, I was in New York promoting this Internet thing I was doing, and they called me and begged me to come on that show, The View.

And I said, “Are you sure you want me on that show, The View?” Then they talked me into the show. And the next day I gonna go on the show and she’s on TV saying, “Well, we’re not going to.” They didn’t call me and tell me. She went on TV and said she cancelled me because, “Well, we didn’t want any…” Made me look really bad. After they convinced me to come on the show! So that pissed me off.

There was one other incident in the media that bothered me: I’m out – my verdict is in. I’m at Rockingham [Simpson’s former estate in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles]. I got to see my kids. I haven’t seen my kids in 17 months. So I talked to [my in-laws] the Browns and my buddy A.C. [Cowlings] is gonna go get them out the next morning. But I can’t get out of my house. It’s like Troy – I’m under siege, right?

So I find a way to get out of my house. And I meet [my kids] and the house we want to go to, the media’s there. So we end up going to Don Ohlmeyer’s house. And Don is head of entertainment at the time at NBC.

And my kids and I, we have a great afternoon together. And we’re up late night. First thing in the morning, both kids are hugging me on the bed. Sydney [my daughter] wants me to get in the pool. So she’s in the pool. Justin [my son] is going into Don’s arcade room. And I’m outside there. And Don’s housekeeper calls me – “You gotta come see this.”

Susan Ford is on Katie Couric, and they’re giving this report: O.J. spent the night with the kids, but that man – what a horrible person he is. The Browns are so worried. He never called, he never said where he was at. They were worried, they were calling the police, finding out if anything had happened to the kids. He showed up at three o’clock in the morning. Sydney was traumatized. And Katie Couric is going, “Oh my god, oh my god.”

I’m sittin’ there – my mouth is on the floor. My kids are right out here with me. My kids never went back to Laguna. The Browns knew they were with me. This is a total false, bogus story.

So Don calls the head of news for NBC, I can’t think of his name now, to tell them the story is not true. They go, How do you know it’s not true? And Don says, “Trust me.” Because Don couldn’t tell them. And they guy kept saying, “Well, Don, how do you know it’s not true?” And I’m standing there with Don.

So Don says, “So that’s what we’ve come to in journalistic integrity – ‘How do you know it’s not true?’ – not, that we know it’s true because of?”

So that’s what NBC News and the Today show is all about. We had to prove that it wasn’t true. And to Don’s credit, he never gave, you know… And once, four or five months later, when I invited him back to my house, I was able really to read the riot act to the NBC people. I mean, how can you guys just do that?

This is the Today show, this is Barbara Walters.

If you’re saying Howard Stern, Geraldo Rivera – Howard, I apologize, puttin’ you in the same category with Geraldo. So I do apologize, Howard. But Geraldo – who cares? They’re going to say what they’re going to say. This guy’s going to lie, make up crap anyway.

But the Today show? Barbara Walters? You expect more from these people.

“We generated $2.3 billion in revenue for the trailing 12 months, how much did BlogTalkRadio generate? Do they have a viable business plan?”

Before I respond to David’s question regarding the viability of our business plan, let me elaborate on why I think Sirius XM is in for hard times. Here’s a list of obstacles I see hindering satellite radio’s growth:

• The cost of content is way too high. Howard Stern, the $500 million man, is reported to have only 1.2 million listeners to his show a week. And those are not unique listeners. Howard has far and away the largest audience on Sirius. (Take a look at the numbers reported just nine months ago in The Daily News.) Notwithstanding the huge contracts awarded to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, I believe the days of big radio contracts are over.

• Cars are being equipped with devices that can accommodate Internet surfing. Why subscribe to Sirius XM when passengers can access their Last.fm, Yahoo or Pandora playlists? There are endless choices for streaming music, all far more appealing than the choices offered by satellite radio.

• Cars are also being equipped with iPod jacks and other MP3 accessories.

• When cars can accommodate the Web, why should someone pay a subscription fee for CNN or Fox News when content can be streamed directly off those websites for free?

• There’s a limit to the number of channels – and, thus, content – that can be distributed on the Sirius XM network. In July, more than 4,000 hosts produced tens of thousands of hours of programming on BlogTalkRadio. How many hours of programming did Sirius and XM offer?

• While I haven’t scoured Sirius and XM’s annual reports to determine the cost of maintaining a satellite network, there’s no doubt that a low-cost, Internet-based model for creating and distributing content is far more appealing to investors.

• We live in an on-demand TiVo world. To date, BlogTalkRadio has produced more than 110,000 discrete shows, all of which are accessible via our network. Audiences want to consume content when they want it and not when it’s scheduled. Does Sirius XM make all its content available in archives?

Of course, what do I know? As Sirius XM’s CFO asks, “Do they have a viable business model”?

• We have more than three million listeners per month to shows whose topics range from politics to entertainment to sports to parenting to paranormal. Our hosts produce more than 500 live shows a day, and there is no limit on the number of shows or hosts the BlogTalkRadio radio network can accommodate.

• We aggregate programming by topic, thereby offering a far more targeted audience to our customers.